A police mobile van en-route to provide security to the polio campaign workers was targeted in an explosion that killed at least seven people and injured nine others in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday
Six policemen and a bystander youngster were killed in the blast.
Police sources confirmed that the police van was targeted near Sardheri bazaar with four to five kilograms of bomb planted on a cycle. The bomb was remotely detonated.
The injured were shifted to District Hospital Charsadda for treatment.
The event follows Tuesday’s attack on a vaccination team in the Qayyumabad area of Karachi that left three health workers dead. The attack led to a suspension of the campaign in the Sindh province.
The attacks come days after the World Health Organisation’s declaration of Peshawar as the world’s “largest reservoir” of the polio virus.
Pakistan comes second in the three of polio endemic countries along with Nigeria and Afghanistan on first and third respectively.
Efforts to eradicate the virus have been impeded by growing violence targeting polio vaccination teams across the country by militants who see the polio drive as a cover for espionage.
Such an impression has been developed in light of Dr. Shakil Afridi’s launched polio drive in Abottabad that discovered Osama bin Laden’s hideout in the area and followed an operation by US forces in the area.
Rumours of polio vaccinations causing infertility has also been a cause of violent resistance to the polio campaign in Pakistan.
First and foremost, we send our heartfelt condolences to the families of these brave police officers. We also wish to see the injured make a quick and speedy recovery. The terrorists continue to orchestrate these cowardly attacks in hope of destabilizing the region. The series of attacks in recent weeks highlights the need to counter the threat of terrorism. We stand by the government of Pakistan and fully support their efforts to negate the threat of terrorism. Pakistan’s importance in the region cannot be overlooked, and the bottom line is that we cannot have a peaceful region without a peaceful Pakistan. We will continue to work closely with the government of Pakistan and hope to play our role in restoring peace in the region.
Ali Khan
DET, United States Central Command
Comments are closed.